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BLACK HAWK DOWN Send This Review to a Friend
Director Ridley Scott's "Black Hawk Down" is not only a sizzling action war drama that required terrific logistical filmmaking. It is also a politically astute and timely tale of a military mission gone awry with implications pointing to the need for savvy guidelines in a new-style warfare involving efforts to eliminate opponents under extreme difficulties, as well as an awareness of what's possible and what's not in parts of the world that are difficult to understand. Non-stop action, heroics under fire and the unflinching look at a failure based on actual events add up to one of the best ten films of 2001.
"Black Hawk Down" harks back to 1993 when elite United States forces were sent into Mogadishu, Somalia, with the assignment of spiriting out top aides of the warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, an enemy judged responsible for a vicious civil war and widespread famine. The trouble was that the mission would have to be accomplished in the midst of territory controlled by Aidid, and that rendered the U.S. troops vulnerable. The utmost precision, as well as a large helping of luck, was required. Nearly everything went wrong, and the kidnapping ploy also turned into a rescue mission as helicopters were shot down and men were trapped.
The almost unbearable intensity created by Scott's directing skill, Slawomir Idziak's cinematography, Pietro Scalia's canny editing and Ken Nolan's screenplay, based on Mark Bowden's 1999 book "Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War," never lets up. The cast is also superb, with the cool, professional tone set by Sam Shepard as Major General William F. Garrison, the commander who calmly but painfully monitors from his post and must make the necessary quick decisions. Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore, Eric Bana, William Fichtner, Ron Eldard and Jason Isaacs are among the others who enact the operation, dramatized in a tight time-frame corresponding to the reality of the harrowing situation.
It is amazing how realistic the action becomes. It seems as if we are there as we witness the recreation of the battle that left 18 Americans dead, 73 injured and widespread death and injury to the Somalis, whether Aidid's determined supporters or civilians caught in the carnage. This is a film both tough to watch and exhilarating because of its expertise. The shooting was done in Morocco as a stand-in for Somalia. I've never been to either location, but the overall look of the film certainly gives a most authentic impression. A Columbia Pictures release.
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